Analysis of the Population Structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia, Tunisia, and the Netherlands: Usefulness of DNA Typing for Global Tuberculosis Epidemiology

Abstract

The genetic heterogeneity among Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from 501 patients in Ethiopia, Tunisia, and the Netherlands was compared by analysis of DNA polymorphism driven by insertion element IS6110. The percentage of isolates displaying two or more identical patterns differed greatly in the three countries: It was highest among Tunisian isolates and lowest in Dutch isolates. In contrast to isolates from Dutch subjects infected with M. tuberculosis, the majority of strains from Ethiopia and Tunisia were from a few families of genetically highly related strains. Furthermore, little overlap was observed among isolates from the three countries, indicating strict isolation of the bacterial reservoirs in the countries. A few strains from the Netherlands matched strains from Ethiopia and Tunisia. Those strains were invariably isolated from refugees, immigrants, or persons who visited Ethiopia or Tunisia.

Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Mycobacterium Tuberculosis: Modern Molecular Epidemiology and Perspectives

“…MTB's genetic diversity differed greatly in developing versus developed countries [87]. Indeed, low genetic diversity within MTB populations is typical of a high TB incidence or of an epidemic pattern and suggests inadequate TB control.…”

Differential Expression of Mycothiol Pathway Genes: Are they Affected by Antituberculosis Drugs?

“…The clinical isolates used in this study were typed through standardised IS6110 RFLP genotyping methods and were grouped according to similarity index, calculated using the Dice coefficient and UPGMA clustering method (GelCompar 4.0) (20). The representation of the IS6110 banding patterns in Fig.…”

IS6110 fingerprinting of sensitive and resistant strains (1991-1992) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Colombia

“…Findings of this sort could help in developing certain types of policies or actions to more effective control measures. In addition, some data have been published and indicate that there are an association between fingerprinting types and their geographic origin (Hermans et al 1995). These studies have shown that it is possible to distinguish between isolates originating from different locations.…”

“…Notoriously, for the first time in Colombia we found some isolates without IS6110 bands. The total of isolates with low number of copies (less than 4) was 11%, that is a percent intermediate between regions of the world with an important proportion of isolates with absence or low number of copies as 21% in Vietnam (Yuen et al 1993) or 24% in Guadeloupe, French West Indies (Sola et al 1997) or 26% in Tanzania (Yang et al 1995) and regions with only 8% in Denmark (Yang et al 1994) or 5% in Tunisia (Hermans et al 1995) or 4% in Cuba (Diaz et al 2001). It have been showed for others authors that isolates with IS6110 lower than four require the use of additional genetic markers, such as PGRS and DR, to establish the genetic relatedness (van Soolingen et al 1993).…”